Shahin hunts down Ibrahim in last-lap Bathurst GT thriller

Yasser Shahin made a last-lap pass on Prince Jefri Ibrahim to claim victory in Race 2 of Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS as Audi and Mercedes-AMG faced off again at Bathurst.

Having taken over the #777 The Bend Motorsport Park Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo from co-driver Garth Tander in the pit stops, Shahin incredibly charged from fourth to first in less than 15-minutes.

It marks the duo’s third Pro-Am win of the season as they defeated Race 1 winners Ibrahim and Shane van Gisbergen in the Triple Eight Mercedes-AMG GT3, who finished second.

It was a spectacular sight as the field streamed up Mountain Straight on the opening lap with Chaz Mostert hot on the heels of fellow front-row starter van Gisbergen.

Brenton Grove passed David Wall around the outside at Griffins Bend to put the Porsche 911 GT3 R ahead of the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for fourth.

In the opening exchanges, Mostert showed his nose twice at The Chase before van Gisbergen opened up a small lead until they all dove into the pits.

This is where the race changed complexion as Mostert pitted a lap earlier to hand over to Tony Bates, while van Gisbergen came in the next lap to swap over the Triple Eight car to Ibrahim.

Meanwhile, Arthur Abrahams found the fence at Reid Park in his Audi, which resulted in a safety car at a critical moment in the mandatory pit stop sequence.

This worked in favour of Triple Eight as Ibrahim emerged in the lead ahead of Bates and Stephen Grove in the #4 Porsche in third.

Racing resumed with 12-minutes to go as the top two split off and Shahin, who took over the #777 Audi from Tander, passed Grove for third.

Shahin lost a significant chunk of time behind a back-marker but closed down on Bates in no time and cleared him for second at Griffins Bend.

With a victory in sight, there was no slowing down Shahin, who put a sensational pass on Ibrahim at the Elbow for the race lead on the final lap.

Ibrahim crossed the line 0.8s behind in the second-placed Triple Eight car, as Bates came home third in the Audi he shares with Mostert.

Brenton and Stephen Grove picked up a fourth-place finish, while Brad Schumacher in fifth outright was the best of the Trophy class runners aboard an Audi R8 LMS Ultra.

Tony Quinn brought his Aston Martin Vantage home sixth outright and first in the Am class, ahead of Max Twigg, Nick Kelly, Michael Bailey, and the Wall/Adrian Detiz Lamborghini rounding out the top 10.

Shahin and Tander continue to lead the GT World Challenge Australia Pro-Am championship standings.